Blast Furnaces 1995

Editor: This is "Blast Furnaces" by Bernd and Hilla Becher, made in 1995. It's a collection of gelatin-silver prints. I’m struck by the repetition; the photos are all so similar yet each one is slightly different. What kind of symbols do you see here? Curator: The blast furnace, for me, holds potent symbolism. Throughout history, fire and the forge are crucibles of transformation, and the furnace represents industrial power, echoing both creation and potential destruction. But what cultural narratives do these repeating structures conjure in *you*? Editor: I guess I hadn't thought of the fire. It feels more like a monument to the past somehow, the decline of industry, or even the standardization of the work it represents. Curator: Precisely. Think about the grid layout of the images too. How does the systematic approach, reminiscent of scientific cataloging, interact with the imposing structures depicted? Consider the weight of that history, all those lost jobs and labour struggles contained within these forms. Editor: It's like they're trying to make something that feels very cold into something emotional through sheer volume. Each blast furnace is framed neutrally, but together they feel powerful. Curator: Yes! This neutrality becomes a vehicle for reflection. It asks us to examine the cultural weight of industrial architecture and the human impact it carries. Editor: That makes me see them very differently now, thinking about industry’s cultural impact, instead of just seeing them as cold industrial landscapes. Curator: The layering of objective documentation with implied narrative makes for a richer symbolic engagement, don't you think?